“The Connexus Energy headquarters has been powered by 100 percent solar for a good couple of years now,” said Rob Davis of Connexus Energy, glancing at a robotic lawnmower, “So this may be the first autonomous lawnmower that is entirely powered by renewable electricity.
This lawnmower is nicknamed Elroy. He’s been mowing the front yard at Connexus for a few weeks as the company tests the technology.
And so far, Elroy has been popular
“We’ve had a great response from our board from our staff,” said Davis. “It’s definitely performing well in terms of managing the lawn we are dialing in all of the key variables like the deck height and also the frequency of mowing.”
For this test, Connexus partnered a local lawn care company out of Ham Lake.
“The lawn care industry has not been known for being on the cutting edge of the green initiative. For us at A+ Outdoor Services we’re trying to be on that kind of that cutting edge of the new technologies that are out there helping save the planet a little bit at a time,” said Ted Wrobel from A+ Outdoor Services based in Ham Lake.
“We know that electricity is a better solution in a lot of different landscapes; and what the advantages of electricity in this use case is: you get something that’s silent, you get something that is autonomous, and that reduces labor costs,” said Davis
Davis said that Connexus will run another test in the spring to see if Elroy can keep up with the extra moisture in the ground at that time. If things go well Connexus may consider deploying more robotic lawn mowers in more areas of its property.
